Information & Communication Technologies

North American Contact Center Location Trends, Forecast to 2022

A Stronger Economy & High Customer Expectations Are Driving Growth, but Automation and Income Changes Loom

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Published: 25 Jul 2017

Economic growth, consumer and business spending, and growing customer expectations for excellent customer experiences (CXs) are spurring higher American and Canadian contact center demand. As a result, CX-sensitive higher valued omnichannel contact centers will be set up, expand, and stay onshore, and return from nearshore and offshore locations, over the short to medium terms. The spate of retail store closures is opening up potential new locations. Shared locations (small or individual networked agents sharing facilities with other departments are another option. Nearshore and offshore contact centers remain viable where cost is a prime consideration, and they may be expanded or repositioned to serve growing customer service and sales demand in those nations. However, the same forces that are prompting contact center expansion may lead to higher agent churn and shrinking labor pools. Over the longer term, economic changes, automation, and contact center alternatives (e.g., work at home agents [WAHAs], informal agents [IAs]) will balance the labor market. But they may slow contact center growth and could lead to fewer contact center seats. The net result may be a smaller, richer, focused, productive, and diverse customer contact ecosystem.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan's Digital Transformation program titled North American Contact Center Location Trends, 2017 finds that economic growth, consumer and business spending, and growing customer expectations for excellent customer experiences (CXs) are spurring higher American and Canadian contact center demand. CX-sensitive higher valued omnichannel contact centers will be set up, expand, and stay onshore and return from nearshore and offshore locations over the short to medium term. The spate of retail store closures are opening up potential new locations. Shared locations (small or individual networked agents sharing facilities with other departments is another option. Nearshore and offshore contact centers remain viable where cost is a prime consideration, and they may be expanded or repositioned to serve growing customer service and sales demand in those nations. But the same forces that are prompting contact center expansion may lead to higher agent churn and shrinking labor pools. Over the longer term, economic changes, automation, and contact center alternatives (e.g., work at home agents (WAHAs), informal agents (IAs) will slow contact center growth and may lead to fewer contact center seats. The result will be a smaller, richer, productive, and diverse integrated omnichannel customer contact ecosystem.